Electric switch



(No Model.)

A. P. SEYMOUR.-

ELEGTRIG swrrcn.

No. 476,829. Patented June 14, 1892.

/ TEST INVENTU M Jrlbarf? Seynwur NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT P. SEYMOUR, OF SYRACUSE, NE\V YORK.

ELECTRIC SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 476,829, dated June 14, 1892.

' Application filed March 21,1892. semi No. 425.676. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALBERT I. SEYMOUR, a citizen of the United. States, and a resident of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Switches or Out-Outs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to electric switches, cut-outs, and similar electric devices which are provided with an operating stem or shaft adapted by turning to act upon suitable switch-contacts, so as to open, close, or otherwise vary the condition of an electric-circuit, and is designed to provide a simple and improved means both for protecting the mechanism against dust or contact by exterior objects and for turning the switch spindle or shaft.

The invention consists, essentially, in a switch-cover of porcelain or similar insulating material attached to the operating-spindle of the switch and operating not only as a knob or handle by which the switch may be actuated, but also as an insulating protecting-cover.

The invention consists, further, in the new article of manufacture consisting of a porcelain switch-cover, combined with means for attaching it to the operating shaft or spindle of an electric switch.

My invention consists,further, in other details of construction, as hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a switch and switch-cover constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the switch-cover removed. Fig. 3 is a plan of the switch with the cover removed. Fig. 4 is a plan of the switch-cover. Fig. 5 is a cross-section showing a modified form of switch-cover in side View.

A is the base of the switch or other device, and I3 the operating-spindle, which is mounted and acts in any desired way upon the mechanism of any electric switch, as common in the art, for the purpose of opening, closing, orotherwise operating on the circuit.

' O is the switclrcover of my invention. This coveris preferably made of porcelain, adapted to close in the switch mechanism 011 all sides, and is provided with suitable means for at tachment to the operating-spindle. The top of the switch-cover is imperforate, it being closed at the part through which the switchspindle in the ordinary form of switches projects, and provided at such part with a screwthreaded socket or bushing D, preferably of metal, adapted to connect with the switchspindle. The connection is a right-hand screw connection, so that by turning the switchcovcr to the right, in the ordinary manner, the switch will be operated, and the construction of the switch mechanism being, as is ordinarily the case in this art, one which re quires a movement of the spindle always in the same direction to open and close the circuit, it will be obvious that the switch may be operated in the ordinary way-by simply turning the cover thereof to the right.

To assist in the use of the cover as a means for operating the switch, said cover may be fluted or made irregular on its periphery, as shown, to form a hand-held. The connection of the porcelain switch-cover and the spindle might be made by other devices than that described. The screw-threaded socket which engages with the switch-spindle maybe either formed in a piece of brass secured in the top of the cover, at its center, or might in some cases be formed in the material of the cover itself, especially when the latter is made of porcelain or other insulating substance.

In Fig. 5 I have shown a modified form of cut-out wherein the porcelain cover has a central knob or handle C, by which the cover may be turned. In this case, as before, the cover is practically imperforate at its center. The knob or handleis preferably formed from the material of the cover itself and integral with the body of the cover. In this case the cover is shown flat and the switch devices are mounted within a circular wall or rim rising from the base, the fiat cover covering the devices, as before.

It will be obvious that instead of having a knob or handle, as shown, the cover might be milled or iiuted at its edge.

The cover made of porcelain may be glazed and decorated to match the decorations of an apartment.

That I claim as my invention is 1. In an electric switch or other device having an operating switch spindle or shaft, the combination, with such spindle, of an attached spindle and adapted to form an operating knob or handle for the switch.

Signed at Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga and State of New York, this 7th day of March, A. D. 1802.

ALBERT P. SEYMOUR.

Witnesses:

SOLON I'I. LANE, CHAS. R. llUBBELL. 

